Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The horse stopped, its head shook slightly, neighed, and its tail swung back and forth. The horse blinked a few times, absorbing the negative energy around him. The horse moved forward several times, and Lan Huan pulled back on the reins to stop the horse from moving.

Sedan chairs piled on the roadside. She closed her eyes, turned her head to the left, and sniffed a few times. Lan Huan's eyes began to turn red. When she opened her eyes again, Lan Huan saw the shadows of many men, rushing left, right, and forward, but among these men, only Lan Huan could see clearly of a person. It was Magior's crown prince, Jianjun. Lan Huan was now certain that Jianjun must have led his soldiers to the left. She spurred her horse to the left, following the trail of Jianjun and his soldiers.

Lan Huan did not pay attention to the surroundings, but concentrated on following the figure of Jianjun, following him and his soldiers up the mountain. Suddenly, a wolf rushed from her left, jumped up at Lan Huan and grabbed her right forearm. Lan Huan desperately tried to get rid of the wolf, but she couldn't get rid of it. The wolf's fangs pierced deeply into her flesh. Then an arrow hit the wolf's neck, and the wolf let go of Lan Huan's forearm. Lan Huan looked at the dead wolf on the ground and turned around to find Haneul lowered down his bow.

Haneul rode up to the dead wolf, pulled out the arrow, and smiled contemptuously at Lan Huan. "I told you; you need people like me to help you save your prince." He said with a smile.

Lan Huan asked, "How did you find me here?"

Haneul said, "We followed your trail?"

Sukh said, "The villagers told us that this forest has an owner."

Lan Huan frowned annoyingly and said, "That is the reason why I want to quietly rescue His Highness and leave the forest as soon as possible." She turned to look at the two men. "The entrance is not far away, you two must turn around and leave."

Haneul said with a smile, "My lady, we have gone on this seclusion expedition with you, and now it is too late to retreat." He shook off the blood on the arrow. "We promised you; we wouldn't slow you down."

Lan Huan stared at the two of them, without saying a word, and continued to lead the horse towards the top of the mountain.

Sukh pulled his horse to Haneul and said, "Do you have to flirt with her every chance you get?"

Haneul looked at Sukh and felt enlightened, "Why? Jealous?"

Sukh looked at Haneul and said, "Why should I be jealous? There is nothing to be jealous of you flirting with others. Whatever you want to do here, it will not affect my feelings." He looked around. "But your sudden decision does put us in great danger."

Haneul said unhappily, "Then you shouldn't provoke me."

Sukh looked at Haneul and said, "Me? Provoke you?" He closed his eyes and sighed, trying not to let anger disrupt his thoughts. "How and when?"

Haneul said grumpily, "It's been several days since you refused my touch."

Sukh's jaw almost dropped. He shook his head and said blankly, "It's so childish..." He shook his head again. "You're unbelievable." He whipped his horse.

Haneul said loudly, "Now who is the one that is acting childish... Sukh... wait for me."

When Lan Huan, Haneul, and Sukh arrived at the foot of the mountain, they found many dead and living horses scattered at the foot of the mountain.

Lan Huan almost fell off the horse. At this moment, the head of a beautiful young woman suddenly poked out from the tree branches above. Lan Huan slowly took a deep breath and told herself that the picture in front of her was from the past, and her heartbeat slowly calmed down.

In Lan Huan's vision, a big snake slid down from the tree branches and faced the soldiers. The soldiers began to attack each other, and those who were still alive smiled and giggled at the snake. To Lan Huan's surprise, the soldiers followed the snake to the top of the mountain willingly. She concentrated her attention and found that Jianjun was not among the soldiers who followed the snake to the top of the mountain. Lan Huan refocused her attention on Jianjun's scent and found that Jianjun's scent was not that strong, so she jumped off her horse and found that Jianjun's scent on the ground was much stronger. She blinked a few times, and the scene of Jianjun and some soldiers running into the forest reappear.

Sukh said, "It seems that there was a battle here." He looked at the ground and found blood stains. "There is a lot of blood on the ground, but why is there no body?" He looked at Haneul and gently kicked away a sword at his feet. "Perhaps the general took his dead soldiers with him?"

Haneul said, "There is so much blood here, which means there must be more dead soldiers than living soldiers. I don't believe they can bring so many soldiers up this mountain."

Sukh said, "The only way is to go up there and have a look."

Lan Huan said, "His Highness walked this way. I will not go up that mountain."

Haneul asked, "Why not?"

Lan Huan said, "My mission is to save His Highness and bring him back. I am not responsible for saving others."

Haneul teased, "You are such a cold-hearted woman, but I like your attitude."

Sukh said, "Since we are here to help you, let us follow you to save your prince." Sukh quickly turned around and pulled out his sword, cutting the incoming spike in half.

Zöld slowly poked his head out from the edge of the tree. "Hehe... Hehe... Going up the mountain is a big mistake... Hehe... Hehe... Hehe... The guardian will not let you leave here."

Lan Huan, Haneul, and Sukh waited for Zöld to stepped out from behind the trees, but Zöld continued to hide themselves, only popping their heads out to see Lan Huan, Haneul, and Sukh from time to time.

Haneul shouted, "Show yourself."

Zöld giggled and said, "If you want to play with us, come over here. Hehehehe..."

Sukh said, "If you're brave enough, you can come here."

Zöld frowned and quickly threw a few spikes at the three acquaintances. "If we could, we would have..."

Lan Huan looked at Haneul and Sukh and said, "They dare not come over."

Haneul asked, "How do you know?"

Lan Huan said, "If they could come over, they would have come over already." She started to walk away.

Sukh looked at Haneul and said, "I agree with Lady Lan." He also followed Lan Huan.

Haneul quickly followed and asked, "Why should we take this road instead of going up the mountain?"

Lan Huan said, "Most of the people who went up that mountain are dead. If you can avoid it, there is no need to go up that mountain to find trouble." She stopped and scanned the surrounding area. "This way."

Sukh said, "Let's go find your master's lover and leave here as soon as possible." He looked at the trees, with old broken cocoons still hanging on the branches. "I don't like this place."

Haneul said, "Just because it's probably dead doesn't mean it's dead. I think we should at least check before we leave this forest."

Lan Huan looked at Haneul and said, "Listen to the words of the person next to you. Maybe you can live long enough to win back the kingdom you lost."

Haneul sneered, "Are you calling me stupid?"

"Let me ask you." Lan Huan looked back at Haneul. "How do you fight a mythical python that's larger than a human, about forty to fifty feet long?"

Haneul's jaw dropped and said shyly, "Well, in that case, with no mage beside me, let us hurry find your master's lover and leave this place quietly."

When they entered the depths of the forest, Lan Huan took two steps forward, Sukh grabbed her arm, and the two quickly fell to the ground. "Stop..." he whispered.

Lan Huan whispered, "What?"

"Look over there," Sukh said, pointing a few feet away. "Those creatures."

Haneul slowly crawled beside Sukh and said, "Those spiders are huge. Let's avoid them if we can."

Lan Huan looked at the ground and saw Jianjun and some soldiers lying motionless on the ground. "There's no way around it," she whispered.

Haneul asked, "Why?"

Lan Huan said, "My master's lover is lying on the ground with the other soldiers."

Haneul said, "Could they be dead already?"

Lan Huan said, "It's impossible... I can still hear his heartbeat."

Sukh said, "You know we can't save everyone with just the three of us."

Lan Huan said, "We only need to save one person, and this person is my master's lover, the Crown Prince of Magior."

Hearing the word Crown Prince of Magior, Sukh suddenly realized that if they saved the crown prince, Haneul would have one less kingdom to be his enemy. Maybe, just maybe, when Haneul takes back Tangzang, Magior won't join forces with the other kingdoms that are currently enemies of Haneul.

Sukh said, "You two created a distraction, I will go find the prince right away. Lady Lan, which of the lying soldiers is the prince?"

Lan Huan said, "The third person on the left."

When Haneul grabbed Sukh's arm, Sukh began to crawl away. "You must come back alive. Before saving others, you must save yourself first." Haneul said looking at Sukh worriedly.

Sukh said, "Make sure your distraction is worth it, unless I might not make it out alive with the crown prince."

Haneul grabs Sukh's hand and kisses it. "You are my future general. You cannot die here. This is my order."

Sukh quickly pulled his hand away. "Childish behavior," he said, slowly crawling toward the woods to the left.

Lan Huan grabbed the fixed knife from the wristband, grabbed Haneul's hand, and slid the fixed blade over Haneul's pointing finger, letting Haneul's blood drip onto the palm of her left hand.

Haneul frowned in pain, "Why is it my blood and not yours."

Lan Huan stood up suddenly and said loudly so that the creatures standing in front of her could see and hear her, "My blood cannot use this spell."

Hearing Lan Huan's voice, the spider creatures all noticed, turned to look at Lan Huan, and hissed and roared at Lan Huan.

Lan Huan put her middle finger on the blood on her hand, her eyes began to turn red, and she began to chant.